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Alabama Tax Filing

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How to File Your Alabama Taxes

As an Alabama resident, you might like to know that you can get up to $1,500 in tax exemptions for you and your spouse, as well as a $300 to $1,000 deduction for each dependent.

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Determine Your Residency Status

The amount of your taxes depends on your residency status.

You Are an Alabama Resident

If you are a resident in the state of Alabama and earn at least $5,250, you have to file a state income tax return. If you are married, you can file your taxes together with your wife or husband (joint filing). The only condition is that your combined income is at least $10,500.

You can choose the short version (Form 40A) only if you meet all following conditions: you were a resident for the whole year, you do not have any itemize deductions, you do not claim changes to income, you are not filing Schedules C, D, E, or F, and you are not asking for deductions after paying taxes in a different state. If you don’t meet all these conditions, you have to file the longer version, Form 40.

For more information on how to fill out Form 40 and Form 40A, you can download the 2017 Alabama Form 40 and Form 40A Booklet above.

You Are a Part-year Alabama Resident

You are considered a part-year resident if you started living in Alabama or moved out of the state during the tax year. If you are a part-year resident, you have to file your taxes for all income that exceeds $5,200 (or $10,500 if you file jointly with your husband or wife), independent of the place where the income was earned. You also need to file for all income higher than $1,500 (or $3,000 if you file jointly with your husband or wife), earned from sources in the state of Alabama, during the time when you were not a resident.

To find out more information on how to file taxes for the period when you were not a resident, check one of these sections below: “You Are a Nonresident Working in Alabama” or “You Are a Nonresident Who Sold Property in Alabama”.

You Are an Alabama Resident Who Works in a Different State

All Alabama residents who earn at least $5,200 (or $10,500 as a married couple) are required to file their Alabama income tax return. If you are an Alabama resident and have been working in a different state, you also need to file your return. How can you avoid dual taxation? It’s easy: just fill in Schedule CR and attach it along with your W-2, Alabama return (Form 40) and the return from the other state. If you’ve had a really busy year and worked in more than one state, you have to determine how much to pay to each different state, and how much to claim from the state of Alabama as a refund. You still file Schedule CR for more than one state to claim the credit.

You Are a Nonresident Who Worked or Sold Property in Alabama

If you earned more than $1,500 (or $3,000 as a married couple) in Alabama, while not a resident, then you need to file your nonresident tax return. How can you know for sure if you exceeded the $1,500 threshold? Take into account the following taxable type of income: wages, salaries, sales, commissions and property sales. In order to file your nonresident tax return, you have to use Form 40NR (you can download the 2017 Alabama Form 40NR Booklet above for more information).

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